Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Guglielmo Forges Davanzati
Author-Email:
Author-Workplace-Name: Università del Salento - Dipartimento di Filosofia e Scienze Sociali
Author-Name: Rosario Patalano
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Author-Workplace-Name: Università di Napoli «Federico II» - Dipartimento di Economia
Title: L'economia come scienza morale: sottoconsumo e crisi nel pensiero di Sismondi 
(Economics as moral science: under consumption and crisis in Sismondi's thought)
Abstract: This paper dealt with Sismondi’s theory of economic crisis. An analytical reconstruction has been provided,
based on a preliminary reconstruction of his method. On the analytical plane, it has been
shown that Sismondi finds a composition failure deriving from the tendency to cut wages on the part
of capitalists: while, for the individual capitalist, a reduction of wages increases his profits, for capitalists
as a whole this implies both a reduction of the demand for consumption goods and an incentive
for social conflict. On the macroeconomic plane, the reduction of wages generates a reduction
of profits via the decline of consumption and the increasing costs connected to the control of social
conflict. Finally, it has been argued that Sismondi’s theoretical schema lacks of a theory of investments
Classification-JEL: B12, E24 
Keywords: Sismondi; teoria salariale; teoria dell’investimento 
(Sismondi; wage theory; investment theory)
Journal: Il Pensiero Economico Italiano
Pages: 121-138
Volume: 19
Issue: 2
Year: 2011
File-URL: http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=201106302&rivista=63
Handle: RePEc:pei:journl:v:19:y:2011:2:7:p:121-138